| Bartlett on Brisbane |
| Written by Jason Wilson | |||||
| Monday, 17 March 2008 | |||||
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From Senator Andrew Bartlett, an in-depth assessment of the Brisbane results.
Despite the Liberals running as Campbell Newman's 'Can Do' candidates, rather than as Liberals, they will pleased that they now have the buffer of six very safe seats - McDowall, Chandler, Walter Taylor, Macgregor, Hamilton and Pullenvale - with a margin of over 20 per cent, plus another five with a margin of more than 10 per cent. In contrast, Labor now have very few safe seats, with only one – Morningside – clearly above a 10 per cent margin. Despite this uninspiring similarity between the two main contenders, and despite running almost a full team of candidates, the Green Party didn't really come close to breaking through in any seat and polled under 9 per cent in the Mayoral contest, which from memory is actually a drop on what they have achieved in the past. This isn't having a shot at the Greens – although possibly their message just wasn't dramatic enough to catch public attention in most areas - but rather an indication of just how hard it is to break through in the absence of big money for advertising or big media coverage. The Greens got a few results which were highly laudable for a minor party, with votes of 21 per cent in Toowong and 26 per cent in The Gabba being worth celebrating, but it's winning the seat which makes the difference. If anything, it seems even harder for a minor party to break through in Brisbane City Council than it is at state level. I was surprised that the Deputy Mayor and Labor's leader in Council, David Hinchliffe, has come so close to losing his ward of Central (where I live), although he'll probably get enough from postal and pre-poll votes to get over the line. A redistribution did mean his seat took in some areas he wasn't representing before, thus denying him of some of the benefits of incumbency, but it still surprised me that he had such a swing against him, especially as the Greens vote, while still fairly high at 16 per cent, didn't move much from last election. He is suggesting that it is due to a backlash against him being seem as having 'held up' some of Campbell Newman's plans. I know that was the constant suggestions from the Lord Mayor's camp, but I didn't see much evidence of it. Labor's loss of Felicity Farmer's ward of Jamboree also surprised me, as she seemed to be a hard-working local Councillor from what I could see.
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